Saturday, April 26, 2008

Matt (Jessie's oldest brother) had baseball practice last week, and I drove him out to Deer Creek, but had to leave immediately to go to Jake and Josh's (Jessie's middle-older brothers) batting practice.

On the way in to Matt's practice, I noticed a kid over on the right corner selling lemonade. I was in a hurry, so I figured that I would look the other direction and get on with my business. On the way back, though, something told me to slow down and buy some lemondade from this kids who seemed to be working so hard. "Slow down", I told myself.

So I pulled up and said "one please", and as the kid (later I found out that he was a 5th grader named Joey) was getting ready to pour my lemonade I asked him, "What are you going to do with all that money your making". Of course, I expected something like a new bike, or a Nintendo DS game, or a new motorized scooter. But what he said was, "I'm going to give it to Jessie Hall".

Well, here I am, a grown man, trying to hide my emotions from this boy that I didn't know. I asked him, "Do you know who I am", and he answered quite innocently, "No."

I said, "I'm Jessie's Dad.", and he said "No Way!" He was genuinely excited that I was there. He called over his two helpers, and it was none other than Avery, a little girl from Mrs. Huckabee's 2nd Grade (Jake's class), and Jane Ann, a little girl from Mrs. Moorehead's 2nd Grade (Josh's class).

You may remember Avery as the star of the Nutrcracker Suite who sang such a beautiful solo, but we remember Avery as that sweet, polite, little girl that enjoyed our campfire with us late one evening after Jake's camping party, the night of the big Aledo play-off game in Wichita Falls. We stayed back for the birthday party and got the priveledge of getting to know this young lady and her sister.

We know Jane Ann, because of her outgoing personality, and she ALWAYS says "Hi" to us when we are up at the school, and she ALWAYS gives Jessie a hug when she sees her. I'm so proud to be a part of this community that raises such fine children as these.

I've seen a lot of lemonade stands in my life, but I will NEVER forget this Lemondade Stand.

4 comments:

I am so glad you found out about the lemonade stand this way. They have been on the corner flagging cars down off and on for several weeks. I was going to email a picture of it to you all but how perfect you found out the way you did! -Connie

wow.. that's awesome. I saw your daughter on the news last night and was checking on here today and found this blog.. I've reading it for the past hour (every word) and this one made me cry! you have an amazing family and I hope you are so proud!I will continue to pray for your daughter and family!

About Me

Jessie is 8 years-old and in 2nd Grade. She has 3 brothers, Matt(12), Jake(10) and Josh(10). She loves people, and never met a stranger. She loves to laugh and sing and play. Jessie was diagnosed with Rasmussen's Encephalitis(RE), which is a rare brain disease that usually attacks healthy children about her age. The only known treatment for this cruel disease is a hemispherectomy (surgical removal of one-half of the brain)
This is an account of Jessie's confrontation with RE and her families attempts to navigate through a new world to bring her the best care possible. Surgery was on June 11, 2008.
This Blog is an attempt to help people undertand this disease and surgery, and to help others with kids going through it to find comfort and resource from someone who has been there before.
Read from bottom, up. It will be updated continuously through Jessie's Miraculous Recovery.
**To add Comments, just click "Comments".Or, email Jessie at Jessie@Hallzoo.com.